The Twilight 25
by redemptionsong
Summary: A series of drabbles and one shots inspired by the prompts given for round 5 of The Twilight 25. Rated M just in case
1. Chapter 1

All Twilight characters, etc belong to Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

><p>The Twilight Twenty-Five<br>thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: 1  
>Pen Name: redemptionsong<br>Pairing/Main Character(s): E/B  
>Rating: G<p>

Photo prompts can be viewed here:

thetwilight25[dot]com/round-5/prompts

* * *

><p>Bella lifted an arm out of the window, waving goodbye to the summer, to the sea, to the boy who showed her love for the first time. She started her car but couldn't shake the feeling she had forgotten something. Something important.<p>

Listing off items in her head, she almost didn't see the tall figure in the rear-view mirror, chasing her as she drove away. She braked as he caught up and threw himself into the passenger seat, one large bag clutched tightly in his hand.

"Me," he mumbled desperately, leaving kisses all over her face. "You almost forgot me."


	2. Chapter 2

The Twilight Twenty-Five  
>thetwilight25[dot]com<p>

Prompt: 02  
>Pen Name: redemptnsong<br>Pairing/Main Character(s): E/B  
>Rating: G<p>

Photo prompts can be viewed here:  
>thetwilight25[dot]comround-5/prompts

Edward sipped from his glass of wine as he walked through the crowded room, occasionally stopping to talk briefly with an acquaintance but not for more than a few minutes before continuing on. He pondered how long would be socially acceptable to stay and mingle before leaving for the comfort of his own home.

Five more minutes, he decided, his eyes darting around the room as he kept a lookout for the one person he didn't want to bump into again. The invitation to the Denali's annual Christmas party had not come as a surprise to Edward since the Denalis were long-time family friends. Their parties had always been an occasion to look forward to until two years prior when he had drank one too many glasses of wine and had found himself half naked with Tanya Denali in her childhood bedroom in an upstairs wing of the house.

Edward shuddered at the thought. She had been trying for a repeat of the occasion and he had been trying to escape her clutches ever since.

His eyes scanned the room for her tall blonde figure but rested instead on a pair of warm brown eyes directly in front of him.

"Wine, sir?" The waitress held out a tray and waited for Edward to drain his glass before replacing it with a full one from her.

"Thank you," he said as his eyes skimmed furtively over her figure. _Pretty, _he thought to himself as she moved to walk past him. She stopped right by his side and tilted her head towards him. He leaned down instinctively.

"She's in the kitchen," she said softly with a smirk before walking away.

Edward watched her go, his eyes wide in surprise. Was he that obvious?

Now that she had her back turned he felt free to check her out without her noticing. Her short black skirt showed off her long legs and her crisp buttoned up white shirt made him want to see what lay beneath. His thoughts were interrupted as someone clinked their wine glass loudly to get everyone's attention. Edward looked up to see Tanya standing with her parents on the stairs. She clutched the banister with one hand and raised her wine glass with the other.

"Welcome, everyone!" Tanya smiled at the room at large, her eyes darting over all the faces before stopping on Edward's. Her smile widened and Edward immediately stepped away out of her sight. He turned his head away and caught a glimpse of the brown eyed waitress, smothering a laugh with her hand. She gave him a thumbs up before backing away through the double doors of the kitchen. Edward smiled to himself and returned his attention to Tanya.

"... just wanted to thank you all for coming. It's been a happy year for the Denali family. We have new additions to our family with Laurent and Garrett joining our fray. We couldn't have chosen better husbands for our Irina and Kate and we know you'll be very happy as our mother and father have been for so many years." Tanya paused as the crowd congratulated her sisters and their new marriages. Her eyes searched the crowd once more and Edward pressed himself harder against the wall. "I only hope I can find the type of love my sisters and parents have found. In fact, I _know_ that it's out there. It's waiting for me, I know it."

Someone coughed nervously as the intensity of Tanya's stare lingered at the spot where Edward had stood. He heard a muffled sound to his left and glared at a large tanned figure chuckling under his breath beside him.

"Wow," he shook his head and smiled.

"What?"

The larger man motioned to Tanya with his face. "She's really hung up on you, huh?"

Edward shifted uneasily as Tanya resumed her speech. "She wasn't talking about me. She was just talking about in general. Y'know, finding someone out there..."

"Someone like you," the stranger replied with a grin. "I'm surprised she didn't just come right out and say your name. What is your name by the way?"

"Edward," he merely grumbled in reply. He noticed that Tanya was no longer talking and people were back to mingling and enjoying the party.

"She's hot, though." The stranger was clearly not finished with the conversation.

"Hot will only get you so far when all she wants to talk about is what dress she's going to wear to the next party or which plastic surgeon does the best boob jobs," Edward retorted with a snort.

"Damn!" The stranger frowned and muttered something about _'another twenty bucks.'_

Edward turned his attention back to the party and drained the rest of his wine. He looked around for a place to put it before the stranger took it out of his hands and placed it on his empty tray.

"I'll take that. I better get back to work anyway."

Edward looked at him and realised that he had on a similar outfit to the brown eyed waitress: black pants and crisp white shirt. "Thanks," he said as the stranger stared at something over his shoulder. He went to turn around to see what it was but his wineglass slipped off the tray and fell to the floor with a loud smash. Edward jumped back as glass scattered around their feet.

"Watch your feet, Edward!" The waiter said loudly with an apologetic smile. The smile grew wider as he glimpsed something behind him.

"Edward? Oh, Edward! There you are!"

Edward groaned inwardly as he turned to meet Tanya's enraptured gaze. "Hello Tanya."

"Go for it, buddy," the waiter whispered with a wink as he left with the broken glass. Edward glared at his back as he walked away. Tanya shook her head in exasperation.

"It's so hard to get good help these days," she muttered before returning her adoring gaze to Edward. "Why don't you let me get you another glass of wine, darling?" She murmured, moving her arms up and around his shoulders. Edward tried to pry them away but she would not be budged.

"Wine, sir?"

Edward glanced up to see the pretty brown-haired waitress smirking at him. She shoved the tray up to his face resulting in Tanya relinquishing her hold around him so as to refrain from being hit in the face.

Edward felt a genuine smile on his face and released a breath of relief. "Yes, thank you."

She returned the smile and turned to Tanya, not noticing the blonde's anger toward her. "Ms Denali, your father requested to see you in his office."

Tanya's eyes narrowed. "Please tell him I'm busy with a family friend."

The waitress smiled happily back at her. "He insisted it was of great importance to see you. Something about the family jewels... ?"

"Oh. Oh!" Tanya's eyes immediately lit up and she turned to Edward, pressing herself against him for a moment. "I must go see father about something important. I'll be right back!"

Edward watched her go and resolved to leave before she returned. "Thank you so much," he said to the waitress who hadn't moved.

She shrugged. "You looked like you needed some help."

"Did her father really want to see her in his office?"

She pursed her lips as she held in her laughter. Edward wanted to kiss them. "What do you think?"

He smiled at her and watched as she swallowed down a glass of wine from her tray. "Are you allowed to do that?"

She shrugged again and Edward moved closer, her smile drawing him in. "I'm only doing this as a favour for a friend. I won't ever see any of these people again." Her gaze moved over the people in the room until coming to rest on him. Something in Edward's gut reacted at her words. He didn't like the sound of that at all.

"So what do you do normally then? For a job?" Edward asked.

She smiled cautiously at him as she took another sip of wine. "I help men out of tricky situations. Speaking of, blondie 2 o'clock, coming your way."

Not missing a beat, Edward grabbed her hand and lead her away, past the partygoers and the caterers and out the back door where it was lightly snowing outside.

"Wow, that was fast," she gasped, wrapping her arms around herself to warm herself up against the cold. "I didn't think you -"

She was silenced by his lips pressing insistently on hers and vaguely wondered to herself how it was that his kiss warmed her up from the inside out. After a blissful moment, Edward pulled away.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself." At her raised eyebrows, he pointed above him. "Mistletoe."

"Ahh," she nodded. "Right."

She stared at him as he fidgeted with his blazer. He removed it once his cold fingers finally managed to undo the buttons and draped it around her shoulders. She pulled it closed around her, touched.

"Thank you," she said softly as he moved to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

"You saved me out there, it's the least I can do."

She averted her gaze as a smirk made its way on her face. "I may have had ulterior motives."

Edward frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I had a bet going that you weren't going to leave the party with the blonde boobs."

"You... what?"

She shrugged. "We've been watching you guys all night. Jake and Leah think you're harbouring some secret love for the blonde but I thought you looked like you'd rather be buried alive in the snow. I've got fifty bucks riding on the fact that you don't two don't end up together."

Edward stared at her as she rambled on.

"I'll be three for three tonight if you don't. I already picked your sisters to hook up with that hot southern blonde guy and Mr Hulk."

"Mr Hulk?" Edward interrupted, confused.

"Yeah, you know? Mr Hulk? The huge guy with the curly hair and all the muscles..." She drifted off as her eyes took on a faraway look. Edward didn't like it. He looked down at his own arms. He had muscles too, he thought.

"Damn Emmett," Edward mumbled under his breath.

"Emmett? Is that his name? I mean his muscles are... wow-"

"Yeah, that's enough about Emmett," Edward said flatly.

"Right," she continued. "Anyway, I picked 'em. I picked 'em all to hook up and they did. Although if you ask me, it looks like they've been hooking up for a while, if you know what I mean."

She laughed and nudged him with her elbow not noticing Edward's stony expression. "Oh. Oh, you didn't know about them. They looked really happy together, if it makes you feel any better."

Edward shrugged and admitted to himself that he did feel better. But he put that down to her linking her arm and fingers through his rather than that his siblings were happy with two of his closest friends.

"But you were the easiest. I knew you didn't want blondie and it was the easiest fifty bucks I made tonight."

"Oh, really," Edward smiled leaning toward her.

"Really," she said softly. "Even better than the twenty bucks I made guessing the fake boobs."

"Huh?" Edward's mind was fuzzy as he inched his face closer to hers.

"Never mind," she said as she felt his breath on her face. "I'm Bella, by the way."

"Edward," he said as he lips pressed lightly against hers. They lost themselves in the kiss as the snow fell down lightly around them. They didn't hear the onset of footsteps behind them.

"Yes!" Edward and Bella quickly disentangled themselves. Jake stood behind them fist pumping the air as a dark-haired woman stumbled out the door behind him. She groaned.

"Please tell me you weren't just making out with Edward Cullen, Bella."

Bella watched warily as Jacob pointing his finger tauntingly in Leah's face and dancing around her.

"Okay, I wasn't just making out with Edward Cullen."

"Except they so were!" Jacob laughed, grabbing Leah around the waist and dancing her around the back porch. "Isabella Swan was making out with Edward Cullen on the back steps with the mistletoe! I called it! Didn't I call it, Leah? I called it!"

Bella laughed as Edward grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him again. "They must've made a bet on us. I feel a little violated."

Edward laughed and pressed his lips against her hair. "Welcome to my world."

"Want to bet how long it takes for Leah to punch Jacob?" Bella asked, tucking her hair behind her ear so Edward had access to more skin. He smiled in appreciation.

"Two minutes," he murmured, kissing under her ear.

"Twenty seconds," Bella said, her hands finding their way into his hair.

"You're on."

The sound of a loud punch interrupted their reverie ten seconds later. Bella smiled.

"Pay up," she grinned.

He kissed her instead.


	3. Chapter 3

All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

><p>The Twilight Twenty-Five<br>thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: 03  
>Pen Name: redemptionsong<br>Pairing/Main Character(s): E/B  
>Rating: PG<p>

Photo prompts can be viewed here:  
>thetwilight25[dot]comround-5/prompts

* * *

><p>Bella felt naked under her too-short shorts and her ex-boyfriend's baggy t-shirt. She literally was naked underneath, the last of her underwear used and rolling around with the rest of her washing in the neighbourhood laundromat.<p>

If only these two would make out on someone else's machine, Bella thought eyeing the handsy couple. She shared an exasperated look with the hot green-eyed guy sitting across from her.

At last her load finished. She bent to unload when she felt fresh air on her ass.

Fresh unobstructed air.

A loud gasp across from her told her someone else noticed it too.


End file.
